Breakdown of Ci sono voluti mesi, ma finalmente si sono permesse le esportazioni.
essere
to be
ma
but
il mese
the month
finalmente
finally
si
one (impersonal)
volerci
to take (time, impersonal)
permettere
to allow
l'esportazione
the export (f)
Questions & Answers about Ci sono voluti mesi, ma finalmente si sono permesse le esportazioni.
Why is the verb sono permesse instead of hanno permesso?
This sentence uses the si passivante (passive 'si'). The noun receiving the action, le esportazioni (the exports), becomes the grammatical subject. In compound tenses with the si passivante, you must always use the auxiliary verb essere. Because le esportazioni is feminine plural, the auxiliary becomes sono and the past participle takes the feminine plural ending -e, giving us sono permesse.
Why does the first part of the sentence use sono voluti?
This uses the verb volerci, which means 'to take' regarding time or effort. A tricky aspect of volerci is that the time or effort required is the actual grammatical subject. Here, the subject is mesi (months). Since mesi is masculine plural, the auxiliary verb must be plural (sono), and the past participle must agree with it, ending in -i to form voluti.
Could I put the subject before the verb and say le esportazioni si sono permesse?
Grammatically, yes. However, putting the subject after the verb is highly typical for the si passivante in Italian. This inverted word order sounds much more natural, particularly when you are reporting an event or announcing that a status has changed, such as exports finally being allowed.
How do we know si sono permesse isn't a reflexive verb here?
You can tell through context and logic. A true reflexive usage would mean 'the exports permitted themselves,' which makes no sense. When you combine si with an active, transitive verb like permettere (to permit) and a direct object, it creates a passive meaning. It implies that the exports were permitted by an unspecified third party, like a government.
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